1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal having an electronic money function, an authentication apparatus for the mobile terminal, a billing apparatus, an authentication system using the apparatuses and the terminal, a processing method used in the mobile terminal, an authentication method used in the authentication apparatus, a billing method used in the billing apparatus, and programs for causing computers to execute those methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic money system having high security against forgery and enabling off-line transactions has been developed recently. An electronic money system refers to a system in which payment is made by transferring information on electronic money (electronic currency that is equivalent to paper and metal currency in circulation) stored in an IC chip of an IC card (also called an electronic money card).
A system has also been proposed in which an IC chip storing information on electronic money (hereinafter simply referred to as e-money) is installed in a mobile phone to enable the mobile phone to have an e-money function and payment is made by using the mobile phone as a wallet. By storing e-money information in a mobile phone carried by a user at any time, the user can make a purchase without using cash, even in the case where the user has forgotten to bring his/her wallet.
On the other hand, if the mobile phone is lost or stolen, the e-money information is also lost or stolen, raising the possibility of e-money being used by a malicious third person. In reality, users are thus not willing to use mobile phones having the e-money function unreservedly.
For this reason, a system has been proposed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-095042 for confirming the legitimate user of a mobile phone. In this system, an authentication server used for user authentication stores a face image of the owner of a mobile phone, and the face image of the owner is obtained from the authentication server at the time of user authentication using the mobile phone. The face image is then displayed on the mobile phone to confirm the legitimate user. According to this system, a store clerk can confirm the legitimate user of the mobile phone, and illegal use of e-money by a third person can be prevented through use of this system when the mobile phone having the e-money function is used.
However, in the system described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-095042, if a third person displays his/her image on the mobile phone pretending that he/she is communicating with the server, the person using the mobile phone seems to agree with the person using e-money. Therefore, the person may use e-money. Furthermore, since communication with the server is necessary at the time of user authentication, the system in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-095042 cannot be used in a place where radiowaves cannot reach or are disrupted.